Pete Abrams

American cartoonist and creator of the online comic strip Sluggy Freelance.

John, Lord Acton

1834-1902. A staunch Catholic who opposed the doctrine of papal infallibility, he was described as "the magistrate of history" by a contemporary. Appointed Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge in 1895. Widely viewed as one of the leading libertarians of the 19th century.

Douglas Adams

1952-2001. The author of the hilarious Science Fiction series starting with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The original book was derived from material he wrote for performance on BBC Radio in 1978. He died in May 2001 of a heart attack. Website.

John Adams

1735-1826. Second president of the United States of America (1797-1801).

John Quincy Adams

1767-1848. Sixth president of the United States of America (1825-1829).

Scott Adams

1957-. Creator of the comic strip Dilbert, and noted for his uncanny ability to portray real life situations in software companies in cartoon form. Dilbert website.

Dante Alighieri

1265-1321. Author of the Divine Comedy.

Woody Allen

1935-. Director of such movies as What's Up, Tiger Lily?, Sleeper, Love and Death, Zelig, and Hannah and Her Sisters. IMDb listing.

Yehuda Amichai

1924-2000. Israeli poet.

Anonymous

4004 B.C.(?)- .The great immortal. Quoted everywhere, by everyone. Seems to have written on just about every subject known to man, and in almost every language. No known photos, paintings, statues, etchings, woodcuts or cave paintings exist.

Sir Humphrey Appleby

Fictional persona created by Anthony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, portrayed by Nigel Hawthorne in the television shows Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. Fan website.

Aristotle

384-322 B.C. A former student of Plato, who became tutor to Alexander the Great. His school of philosophy was called peripatetic from Aristotle's preference for discussion while walking around the grounds of the Lyceum.

Margaret Atwood

1939-. Canadian author of such works as The Edible Woman, The Handmaid's Tale, and The Robber Bride. Reference site.

Charles Babbage

1792-1871. Inventor and mathematician. Perhaps best known for designing the difference engine and the analytical engine, which were mechanical precursors to modern computers.

Francis Bacon

1561-1626. English philosopher and statesman. Raised to the peerage as Viscount Saint Albans.

Walter Bagehot

1826-1877. English economist and author. Noted contributor to The Economist. Website.

Tallulah Bankhead

1903-1968. American actor. Biographical article.

John Perry Barlow

1947-. Lyricist for the Grateful Dead and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation

Dave Barry

1947-. Syndicated columnist and author. Books include Babies and Other Hazards of Sex, Homes and Other Black Holes, and Big Trouble. Website.

Frederic Bastiat

1801-1850. French economist and statesman. Member of the liberal, or laissez-faire school of economists. Major works included Economic Sophisms, The Law, and Economic Harmonies. Website.

Rick Bayan

Author of the Cynic's Dictionary and The New Cynic's Dictionary. Website: The Cynic's Sanctuary.

Charles A. Beard

1874-1948. American historian.

Robert Benchley

1889-1945. American actor and author.

Sir Ernest Benn, Bart.

1875-1954. Founder of the Individualist Bookshop. Biographical website.

Ambrose Bierce

1842-1914? American journalist and author. Best known for The Devil's Dictionary and the short story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". He disappeared on a trip into revolutionary Mexico and is assumed to have been killed by bandits. Biographical website.

Josh Billings

1818-1885. American humorist and lecturer.

Sir William Blackstone

1723-1780. British legal scholar and author. Best known work was Commentaries on the Laws of England.

William Blake

1757-1827. English poet and artist.

Christie Blatchford

Canadian journalist formerly with the National Post and now writing for the Globe and Mail. NP Article Archive.

Erma Bombeck

1927-1996. American author and journalist.

Napoleon Bonaparte

1769-1821. French general and Emperor (1804-1815).

Fernand Braudel

1902-1985. French historian.

Berke Breathed

American cartoonist. Creator of the Bloom County (1980-1989) and Outland (1989-1995) strips. Website.

William F. Buckley

1925-. American author and editor. Founder of the National Review. Website.

Lois McMaster Bujold

1949-. American Science Fiction author. Best known works include: The Warrior's Apprentice, The Vor Game, Memory, A Civil Campaign, Curse of Chalion, and Diplomatic Immunity. Much more information on her work is available through this fan website.

George W. Bush

1946-. 43rd President of the United States.

Samuel Butler

1612-1680. English poet and author.

George, Lord Byron

1788-1824. English poet and adventurer.

Albert Camus

1913-1960. French philosopher and author.

George Carlin

American comedian and author. website.

Thomas Carlyle

1795-1881. Scottish author and historian.

Bennett Cerf

1898-1971. American writer and publisher. Co-founder of Random House.

Philip Stanhope, Lord Chesterfield

1694-1773. English writer and statesman.

G.K. Chesterton

1874-1936. English author and journalist. Best known for his "Father Brown" series of short novels.

Sir Winston Spencer Churchill

1874-1965. English author and statesman. Prime minister (1940-1945 and 1951-1955), and winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1953.

John Ciardi

American poet and Rutgers University professor.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

106-43 B.C. Roman author and statesman.

Arthur C. Clarke

1917-. British Science Fiction author. Best-known works include: Against the Fall of Night, Childhood's End, Rendezvous With Rama, The Nine Billion Names of God, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Fan website.

Carl von Clausewitz

1780-1830. Prussian general and military theorist. Best known work is On War

Georges Clemenceau

1841-1929. French prime minister (1906-1909 and 1917-1920).

Hillary Clinton

American senator and former first lady (1993-2001).

William J. Clinton

42nd President of the United States (1993-2001).

Richard Cobden

1804-1865. British economist and statesman. Best known for his work with John Bright in the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846.

Confucius (K'ung Fu-Tzu)

551?-479? Chinese philosopher.

Calvin Coolidge

1872-1933. Thirtieth president of the United States of America (1923-1929).

W. Michael Cox

Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Charles de Gaulle

1890-1970. French general and president (1959-1969).

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

1900-1944. French author. His best-known work was The Little Prince.

Germaine Necker, Madame de Stael

1766-1817. French author.

Alexis de Tocqueville

1805-1859. French author and statesman. Best known for his work Democracy in America.

Sam Deep

American author and lecturer. Co-wrote several books with Lyle Sussman.

John Dewey

1859-1952. American philosopher and author.

Benjamin Disraeli

1804-1881. British prime minister (1868 and 1871-1880).

Frederick Douglass

1817?-1895. American orator and journalist for the anti-slavery movement in pre-Civil War America. An escaped slave who rose to prominence during the 1840's.

Peter Drucker

1909-. Austrian-born American author. Website.

Gary Dunford

Canadian editor and journalist. Website.

Will Durant

1885-1981. American author and historian.

Abba Eban

1915-2002. Israeli diplomat and statesman.

Paul Ehrlich

American biologist and author of the book The Population Bomb, 1968.

Albert Einstein

1879-1955. German physicist. Winner of the Nobel prize for physics in 1921.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

1890-1969. Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (1943-45) and Thirty-fourth president of the United States of America (1953-1961).

Ralph Waldo Emerson

1803-1882. American poet and leader of the transcendentalist movement.

Epictetus

55?-135? Greek philosopher of the Stoic tradition.

Euripides

480?-406? B.C. Greek poet and playwright. Famous works include Medea and The Women of Troy.

Jules Feiffer

1929-. American cartoonist. Website.

Enrico Fermi

1901-1954. Italian physicist and winner of the Nobel prize for physics in 1938.

Scott Feschuk

Canadian journalist whose writings appear in the National Post. Recent columns.

Richard P. Feynman

1918-1988. American physicist and winner of the Nobel prize for physics in 1965.

W. C. Fields

1880-1946. American actor and vaudeville performer.

Harry P. Flashman

Fictional Victorian hero, created by George MacDonald Fraser. Fan website.

Malcolm Forbes

1919-1990. American magazine publisher.

Gerald Ford

1913-. Thirty-eighth president of the United States of America (1974-1977). Biography.

Nathan Bedford Forrest

1821-1877. Confederate general and an early leader of the Ku Klux Klan in the post-Civil War period.

E.M. Forster

1879-1970. English author.

Anatole France

1844-1924. Pseudonym for the French author Jacques Thibault. Received the Nobel prize in literature in 1921.

Benjamin Franklin

1706-1790. American scientist and diplomat.

Sigmund Freud

1856-1939. Austrian psychiastrist and author.

David D. Friedman

American economist and author. Published works include The Machinery of Freedom and Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life. Website.

Milton Friedman

1912-. American economist and author. Received the Nobel prize for economics in 1976. Published works include Capitalism and Freedom, Free to Choose: A personal statement, and Monetary Trends in the United States and United Kingom. Biography.

Erich Fromm

1900-1980. German psychoanalyst and author.

Robert Frost

1874-1963. American poet.

Robert Fulford

Canadian journalist and author. Website.

Robert Fulghum

1937-. American author.

Buckminster Fuller

1895-1983. American architect and author.

J.F.C. Fuller

1878-1966. English general and author.

Zsa Zsa Gabor

1919-. Hungarian actor.

John Kenneth Galbraith

1908-. Canadian economist and author.

Galileo

1564-1642. Italian astronomer.

John Galsworthy

1867-1933. English author and playwright.

Indira Gandhi

1917-1984. Indian politician, prime minister of India (1966-1977 and 1980-1984). Only daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru. Assassinated by Sikh extremists.

Mohandas K. Gandhi

1869-1948. Indian nationalist leader, famous for his non-violent campaign for Indian independence from Britain. Assassinated by a Hindu fanatic.

Gabriel Garcia-Marquez

Columbian author, recipient of the Nobel prize for literature in 1982. Best known work is One Hundred Years of Solitude.

William Lloyd Garrison

1805-1879. American publisher and abolitionist. Founder of the Liberator.

Jose Ortega y Gasset

1883-1955. Spanish author.

Bill Gates

American software tycoon. Co-founder of Microsoft.

Chief Dan George

1899-1981. Canadian actor and hereditary Chief of the Coast Salish tribe.

Edward Gibbon

1737-1794. English historian. Best known for his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Khalil Gibran

1883-1931. Lebanese poet. Best known for The Prophet.

William Gibson

1948-. Science Fiction author.

W.S. Gilbert

1836-1911. English dramatist. Best known for his long association with Sir Arthur Sullivan in the production of many famous operettas (including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado.

Joseph Goebbels

1897-1945. German propagandist and Nazi Party functionary.

Herman Goering

1893-1946. German airman and Nazi Party leader. Committed suicide hours before he was due to be executed as a war criminal in Nuremberg.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe

1749-1832. German poet and author.

Oliver Goldsmith

1728-1774. Irish dramatist.

Barry Goldwater

1909-1998. American conservative politician. Unsuccessful candidate for president in 1964.

Samuel Goldwyn

1879-1974. Polish-born American movie mogul.

Robert Graves

1895-1985. English poet and novelist. Best known for his "Claudius" books and The White Goddess.

Horace Greeley

1811-1872. American journalist and founder of the New York Tribune.

Steve H

Florida-based lawyer and weblogger. His comments and articles appear on the sites Little Tiny Lies (weblog) and Little Tiny Wit (articles).

James Hacker

Fictional persona created by Anthony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, portrayed by Paul Eddington in Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.

Alexander Hamilton

1757?-1804. American statesman and author. Mortally wounded in a duel with Aaron Burr.

Jack Handey

American comic and screenwriter.

Jaroslav Hasek

1883-1923. Czech author whose best-known work is The Good Soldier Svejk.

Vaclav Havel

1936-. Czech statesman and author. President of Czechoslovakia (1989-1992) and President of the Czech Republic (1993-present).

Stephen Hawking

1942-. English physicist. Afflicted with ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease).

Friedrich A. Hayek

1899-1992. Austrian-born economist and author of the highly influential Road to Serfdom.

Henry Hazlitt

1884-1993. American economist and author. His best-known work was Economics in One Lesson.

Heinrich Heine

1797-1856. German poet.

Robert A. Heinlein

1907-1988. American science fiction author. Among his many novels are: Stranger in a Strange Land, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Starship Troopers, Double Star, all Hugo award winners. Heinlein also received the first "Grandmaster" Nebula award.

Joseph Heller

1922-. American novelist, best known for Catch-22.

Ernest Hemingway

1899-1961. American novelist. Best known for A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea.

Patrick Henry

1736-1799. American statesman and orator.

Heinrich Himmler

1900-1945. German politician, leader of the infamous S.S., and the man most responsible for orchestrating eh mass murder of European Jews, Communists, homosexuals, and Gypsies before and during World War II.

Hippocrates

470?-410? B.C. Greek mathematician.

Adolf Hitler

1889-1945. German dictator. Founder of the Nazi Party and self-appointed supreme commander of the German armed forces. Committed suicide in Berlin to avoid capture by Soviet forces.

Thomas Hobbes

1588-1679. English philosopher. Best known work is Leviathan.

Eric Hoffer

1902-1983. American longshoreman and philosopher. Published works included The True Believer, The Ordeal of Change, and The Temper of Our Times.

Abbie Hoffman

1936-1989. American student activist. Co-founder of the Youth International Party ("the Yippies") and one of the "Chicago Seven".

Douglas Hofstadter

American philosopher and author of Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid.

James P. Hogan

1941-. English Science Fiction author.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

1841-1935. American jurist.

Admiral Grace Hopper

1906-1992. American computer scientist.

Brian Horrocks

1895-1984. English general.

William Horton

American author and technical writer. Website.

Elbert Hubbard

1856-1915. American author. Died in the sinking of the Lusitania.

Victor Hugo

1802-1885. French author.

David Hume

1711-1776. Scottish philosopher.

Hubert H. Humphrey

1911-1978. American politician.

Aldous Huxley

1894-1963. English author. Best known work is Brave New World.

Henrik Ibsen

1828-1906. Norwegian playwright. Some of his better-known works include Peer Gynt, A Doll's House, and Hedda Gabler.

Robert G. Ingersoll

1833-1899. American orator.

Tom Isenberg

American libertarian activist.

Glenda Jackson

1936-. English actor.

Mahalia Jackson

1911-1972. American gospel singer.

Steve Jackson

American entrepreneur and game designer. Personal website.

Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson

1824-1863. American soldier. Considered one of the best Confederate generals of the American Civil War. Mortally wounded by his own troops at the end of the Battle of Chancellorsville.

Henry James

1843-1916. American author.

Thomas Jefferson

1743-1826. American statesman. Third president of the United States of America (1801-1809), and author of the Declaration of Independence. Vast amounts of his writings are available through The Jefferson Digital Archive.

Jerome K. Jerome

1859-1927. English author of the hilarious Three Men in a Boat and other works.

Marechal Joseph Joffre

1852-1931. French soldier. Commander of the French armies from 1914-1916.

Lyndon B. Johnson

1908-1973. American politician. Thirty-sixth president of the United States of America (1963-1969).

Samuel Johnson

1709-1784. English author and lexicographer.

Antoine Henri Jomini

1779-1869. Swiss soldier and author.

John Paul Jones

1747-1792. American sailor, considered one of the founders of the United States Navy.

Terry Jones

1942-. Welsh actor and comedian. Member of the Monty Python troupe. Personal website.

K'ung Fu-Tzu (or Confucius)

551?-479? Chinese philosopher

Henry J. Kaiser

1882-1967. American shipbuilder and industrialist.

Immanuel Kant

1724-1804. German philosopher.

Elia Kazan

1909-. Turkish-born American film director.

John Keegan

1934-. English military historian and author of The Face of Battle, Six Armies in Normandy, The Price of Admiralty, and other works.

Garrison Keillor

1942-. American author and broadcaster. Best known for his "Prairie Home Companion" PBS radio series.

William Thomson, Lord Kelvin

1824-1907. Irish-born physicist and mathematician.

John F. Kennedy

1917-1963. Thirty-fifth president of the United States of America (1961-1963). Assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

Jean Kerr

1923-. American author.

Charles Kettering

1876-1958. American entrepreneur and inventor.

John Maynard Keynes

1883-1946. English economist. Best-known work is probably General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money.

Soren Kierkegaard

1813-1855. Danish philosopher.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

1929-1968. American civil rights leader and Nobel prize winner. Assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

W.P. Kinsella

1932-. Canadian author and professor at the University of Calgary.

Rudyard Kipling

1865-1936. English poet and novelist. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907. Among his many novels are Plain Tales from the Hills, Kim, and The Jungle Book. Some of his better-known poems include "The Gods of the Copybook Headings", "If", "Tommy", "Gunga Din", and the highly controversial "The White Man's Burden".

Henry Kissinger

1923-. German-born American statesman and Nobel laureate.

John Kula

Canadian editor of the specialist publication Simulacrum.

Francois, duc de la Rochefoucauld

1630-1680. French aristocrat.

Allan Lamport

1903-1999. Mayor of Toronto.

Ann Landers

1918-2002. Pen name of American advice columnist Esther Pauline Friedman Lederer.

Lao Tzu

c. 604 B.C. The name attributed to the author of the eighty-one "Tao-Te Ching" sayings.

Harold J. Laski

1893-1950. English Marxist.

Keith Laumer

1925-1993. American Science Fiction author.

T.E. Lawrence

1888-1935. English soldier. Known to most as "Lawrence of Arabia", and as the author of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

Stephen Leacock

1869-1944. Canadian author.

Denis Leary

1958-. American actor.

Timothy Leary

1920-1996. American psychologist and evangelist for psychedelic drugs.

Fran Lebowitz

1950-. American author.

Gypsy Rose Lee

1914-1970. American burlesque performer.

Robert E. Lee

1807-1870. American soldier. The best-known general of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, he declined the offer of supreme command of the Union armies to return to his home state of Virginia.

Tom Lehrer

1928-. American musician and humorist.

John Lennon

1940-1980. English musician. Murdered in New York City.

Jay Leno

1950-. American broadcaster.

Sugar Ray Leonard

1956-. American boxer.

Giacomo Leopardi

1798-1837. Italian poet.

Oscar Levant

1906-1972. American pianist.

William Lever, Lord Leverhulme

1851-1925. English industrialist.

C.S. Lewis

1898-1963. English author. Best known for his series of children's stories in the "Narnia" series.

Basil H. Liddell Hart

1895-1970. English military historian. A very early proponent of the use of tanks in combat.

James Lileks

Minnesota-based journalist and author. Website

Abraham Lincoln

1809-1865. Sixteenth president of the United States of America (1861-1865). Assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.

Walter Lippmann

1889-1974. American journalist.

David Lloyd George

1863-1945. English-born statesman of Welsh descent. Prime minister, 1916-1921.

John Locke

1632-1704. English philosopher.

Vince Lombardi

1913-1970. American football coach.

Jack London

1876-1916. American poet.

Clair Booth Luce

1903-1987. American author and playwright.

Martin Luther

1483-1546. German theologian and reformer.

Thomas Babington Macaulay

1800-1859. English author and historian.

Niccolo Machiavelli

1469-1527. Italian political philosopher.

James Madison

1751-1836. American statesman. Fourth president of the United States of America (1809-1817).

Maurice Maeterlinck

1862-1949. Belgian author and playwright.

Alfred Thayer Mahan

1840-1914. American naval officer and historian.

Thomas Robert Malthus

1766-1834. English author and futurist.

Horace Mann

1796-1859. American statesman and educator.

Don Marquis

1878-1937. American author.

George Marshall

1880-1959. American general and chief of staff, U.S. Army.

Albro Martin

American historian.

Dean Martin

1917-191995. American singer and actor.

Dick Martin

1922-. American actor and producer.

Groucho Marx

1890-1977. American actor.

Karl Marx

1818-1883. German political and economic philosopher. Best known for his Das Kapital and the Communist Manifesto, both co-written with Friedrich Engels.

George Mason

1725-1792. American statesman.

Vincent Massey

1887-1967. First Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada (1952-1959).

Bill Mauldin

1921-. American cartoonist. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his wartime cartoons.

Wendy McElroy

American libertarian feminist author and columnist. Website.

Vonda N. McIntyre

American Science Fiction author. Winner of both Hugo and Nebula awards.

Marshall McLuhan

1911-1980. Canadian media culture guru. Once referred to as "the Oracle of the Electronic Age". Best-known work was The Medium is the Message.

Robert S. McNamara

1916-. American politician and author.

Margaret Mead

1901-1978. American anthropologist. Best known for her book Coming of Age in Samoa.

Arthur Meighan

1874-1960. Prime minister of Canada (1920-21 and 1926).

H.L. Mencken

1880-1956. American author, editor, and political commentator. Renowned as the "Sage of Baltimore". A stroke in 1948 left him unable to read or write for the remainder of his life. Website.

Jules Michelet

1798-1874. French historian.

Dr. Stanley Milgram

1933-1984. American psychologist.

John Stuart Mill

1806-1873. English philosopher and economist.

Dennis Miller

1953-. American comedian.

John Milton

1608-1674. English poet and author.

Jack Miner

1865-1944. American conservationist.

Marvin Minsky

American mathematician and author. Best-known work is The Society of the Mind.

Emperor Misha I

Naturalized American web logger. Web log.

Moliere

1622-1673. French dramatist (real name Jean-Baptiste Poquelin).

Helmuth von Moltke

1848-1916. German soldier and Chief of the General Staff 1906-1915. Known as "the Younger" to differentiate him from his uncle, who won Prussian victories against the Austrians (1866) and French (1870).

Marilyn Monroe

1926-1962. American actor. Born Norma Jeane Mortenson.

Charles le Secondat, Baron de la Brede et de Montesquieu

1689-1755. French philosopher.

Lola Montez

1821-1861. Irish-born dancer and courtesan. Born Eliza Gilbert.

Lucy Maud Montgomery

1874-1942. Canadian author, best known for her series of novels including Anne of Green Gables.

Monty Python

British comedy troupe, composed of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, and Terry Jones.

Mohammed

570-632. Prophet of the Islamic faith.

Benito Mussolini

1883-1945. Italian Fascist leader and dictator. Executed by Italian Communist partisans.

Ogden Nash

1902-1971. American poet.

Gamal Abdel Nasser

1918-1970. Egyptian Premier.

George Jean Nathan

1882-1958. American critic.

Richard J. Needham

1912-1996. Canadian journalist and author. Published works included Needham's Inferno and The Hypodermic Needham.

Jawaharlal Nehru

1889-1964. Indian nationalist leader and first prime minister of India (1947-1964).

Ted Nelson

1937-. Founder of Project Xanadu, the original Hypertext project, 1960.

Peter Newman

Canadian author and political commentator.

Sir Isaac Newton

1642-1727. English mathematician.

James D. Nicoll

Canadian science fiction fan and frequent contributor to the Usenet group rec.arts.sf.written.

Martin Niemoeller

1892-1982. German protestant minister.

Friedrich Nietzsche

1844-1900. German philosopher.

David Niven

1909-1983. English actor and author.

Larry Niven

1938-. American science fiction author. His novel Ringworld won the Nebula and Hugo awards, and he has won four other Hugo awards for short stories.

Richard Milhous Nixon

1913-1994. Thirty-seventh president of the United States of America (1969-1974).

Oliver North

American soldier and columnist. Notorious for his role in the Iran-Contra episode of the Reagan presidency.

Ted Nugent

1948-. American musician and political activist.

P.J. O'Rourke

American author and political commentator.

Merlin Olsen

1940-. American football player and broadcaster.

Aristotle Onassis

1906-1975. Greek shipping tycoon.

George Orwell

1903-1950. Pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, English broadcaster, author, and social critic. His best-known works were 1984 and Animal Farm.

Sir William Osler

1849-1919. Canadian physician.

Camille Paglia

American author and cultural critic.

James C. Paine

U.S. District Court Judge, Southern District of Florida.

Thomas Paine

1737-1809. American author and political activist. Influential works included Common Sense, Rights of Man, and The American Crisis.

Dorothy Parker

1893-1967. American poet, short-story writer, and social critic.

C. Northcote Parkinson

1914?-1993. English academic and author. Creator of the eponymous "Laws".

Blaise Pascal

1623-1662. French philosopher.

Christopher Patten

1944-. English politician. Last British Governor of Hong Kong.

General George S. Patton

1885-1945. American soldier. Known to his troops as "Old Blood and Guts".

Ron Paul

American congressman.

Linus Pauling

1901-1994. American scientist. Awarded the 1954 Nobel prize in Chemistry and the 1962 Nobel Peace prize.

Norman Vincent Peale

1898-1993. American author and self-help guru.

Lester B. Pearson

1897-1972. Canadian diplomat and statesman. Prime minister of Canada, 1963-1968.

Pericles

495-429BC. Athenian statesman and orator.

Lawrence J. Peter

1919-1990. Canadian author and creator of the eponymous "Principle".

Tom Peters

American business author and management guru.

Jonathan Piasecki

1968-. Canadian writer and web designer.

William Pitt

1759-1806. English prime minister (1783-1801, 1804-1806). Called "the Younger" to differentiate him from his father.

Pliny the Elder

23-79AD. Roman senator and naturalist. Died in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, while attempting to rescue victims from the disaster.

Edgar Allen Poe

1809-1849. American poet and author.

Jules-Henri Poincare

1854-1912. French mathematician.

Polybius

208-118?BC. Graeco-Roman historian.

Jerry E. Pournelle

American science fiction author.

Terry Pratchett

1948-. English fantasy author. Best known for his utterly hilarious "Discworld" series of books. Much information on his work is available at The L-Space Web.

J.B. Priestley

1894-1984. English author and playwright.

Marcel Proudhon

1809-1865. French anarchist.

Marcel Proust

1871-1922. French author.

Dan Quayle

1947-. Vice president of the United States of America (1989-1993).

Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch

1863-1944. English literary critic.

Jane Bryant Quinn

American journalist.

Ayn Rand

1905-1982. Russian-born American author and philosopher. Best-known works include The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.

Eric S. Raymond

American computer author. Best known for his Hacker's Dictionary, and early classic of computer culture journalism. Website.

Ronald Reagan

1911-. Fourtieth president of the United States of America (1981-1989).

Robert Reich

American politician.

Dong Resin

Pseudonym for the web logger whose works appear on his website.

Mordecai Richler

1931-2001. Canadian author.

Robert J. Ringer

American libertarian author and speaker.

Dennis Ritchie

1941-. American computer scientist and co-inventor of the UNIX operating system.

Maximilien Robespierre

1758-1794. French revolutionary. Executed with 21 other leading revolutionaries after a brief reign of terror.

Spider Robinson

American-born Canadian science fiction author. Among his many works are Stardance, Telempath (both of which won Hugo Awards in their Novella form), and Callahan's Crosstime Saloon.

Will Rogers

1879-1935. American humourist.

Andy Rooney

American broadcaster.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

1882-1945. Thirty-second president of the United States of America (1933-1945).

Theodore Roosevelt

1858-1919. Twenty-sixth president of the United States of America (1901-1909).

Leo Rosten

1908-1997. American humourist.

Murray N. Rothbard

1926-1995. American libertarian economist and author. Best known for his books Man, Economy and State, For A New Liberty, and the four-volume history Conceived In Liberty.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

1712-1778. French philosopher and writer.

Damon Runyon

1884-1946. American short-story writer, best known for Guys and Dolls.

Benjamin Rush

1746-1813. American physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence.

John Ruskin

1819-1900. English poet, artist, and art critic.

Bertrand Russell

1872-1970. English philsopher and social critic.

Nicholas Russon

1960-. English-born Canadian technical writer. Best known (if at all) for founding the TH&B Railway Historical Society, as the fight director for PlayMakers! Theatre School, and occasionally maintaining this site.

William Safire

American journalist and author.

Carl Sagan

1934-1996. American astronomer and broadcaster.

Saint Augustine of Hippo

354-430. North African Bishop and philosopher.

Carl Sandburg

1878-1967. American poet and historian.

George Santayana

1863-1962. Spanish poet and philosopher.

Dan Savage

American sex columnist. Website.

Simon Schama

1945-. English art historian.

Arthur Schlesinger

1917-. American historian and biographer.

Kurt Schmoke

1949-. American politican and outspoken critic of the War on Drugs.

Arthur Schopenhauer

1788-1857. German philosopher.

Major-General John Sedgewick

1813-1864. American soldier. Killed at Spotsylvania, PA.

Seneca

4BC-65AD. Roman dramatist.

Sennacherib

725?-681BC. King of Assyria.

William Shakespeare

1564-1616. English playwright and poet. Perhaps the most recognized playright in history. Some sources claim that Shakespeare was merely a front-man for Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. Others claim that Shakespeare was an alias taken up by Christopher Marlowe after faking his own death. A radical view among scholars seems to be that Shakespeare actually wrote the plays now attributed to him. Among his many works were Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, and Richard III.

George Bernard Shaw

1856-1950. Irish writer and playwright. Among his many works were Pygmalion, Man and Superman, and Saint Joan (which garnered him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925).

Percy Bysshe Shelley

1792-1822. English poet, best known for his influence on, and leadership of, the romantic movement.

William Tecumseh Sherman

1820-1891. American soldier, best known for his "Drive to the Sea" in 1864.

Dmitri Shostakovich

1906-1975. Russian composer.

Julian Simon

1932-1998. American economist.

Neil Simon

1927-. American playwright and screenwriter.

Frank Sinatra

1915-1998. American singer and actor.

Gordon Sinclair

1900-1984. Canadian broadcaster, best known for his strongly pro-American editorial broadcast "The Americans" in June, 1973.

B.F. Skinner

1904-1990. American behavioural psychologist.

Field Marshal William Slim

1891-1970. English soldier. Allied commander of British and Indian forces in Burma, 1941-45.

Joey Smallwood

1900-1991. Canadian politician, known informally as the "Last Father of Confederation", through leading the Dominion of Newfoundland into Confederation with the Dominion of Canada, 1949.

Adam Smith

1723-1790. Scottish economist and author. Best-known for his influential book, The Wealth of Nations.

L. Neil Smith

American science fiction author and libertarian activist. Best known for his "North American Confederacy" series of novels. Website.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

1918-. Russian novelist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature (1970). Best known for his epic The Gulag Archipelago.

Sophocles

496-406BC. Athenian playwright.

Thomas Sowell

American economist. Website.

Herbert Spencer

1820-1903. English social philosopher.

Lysander Spooner

1808-1887. American anarchist and legal theorist.

Joseph Stalin

1879-1953. Russian revolutionary and dictator.

Neal Stephenson

American science fiction author. Best known for his novels Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon.

Mark Steyn

Canadian journalist, whose work appears in the National Post.

Tom Stoppard

1937-. Czech-born English playwright, whose work includes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Arcadia

William Strunk Jr.

1869-1946. American writer. Best known for his Elements of Style.

Sir Arthur Sullivan

1842-1900. English composer, best known for his comic operas written in collaboration with William Gilbert.

Sun Tzu

Circa 500-320BC. Pseudonym of the group of Chinese authors of the Art of War.

Vin Suprynowicz

American libertarian journalist.

Jonathan Swift

1667-1745. English novelist, best known for Gulliver's Travels.

Thomas Szasz

1920-. Hungarian-born American psychologist and author.

Publius Cornelius Tacitus

55-120. Roman historian, best known for his Agricola, Germania, and the surviving parts of his Histories.

William Makepeace Thackeray

1811-1863. English author and journalist. His best-known novel is Vanity Fair.

Margaret Thatcher

1925-. English politician and statesman. First female prime minister of Great Britain (1979-1990).

Hunter S. Thompson

1937-2005. American journalist and author. The original "gonzo" journalist, he is known nearly as well for being himself as for any of his written works. Among his better-known books are Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hell's Angels, and Better than Sex: Confessions of a Political Junkie. He committed suicide at his home in Woody Creek, Colorado. Fan site.

Henry David Thoreau

1817-1863. American writer and philosopher. Best known for his classic Walden; or, Life in the Woods, and the short essay "Civil Disobedience".

Thucydides

460-400 B.C. Athenian soldier, statesman, and historian. His Peloponnesian War is widely considered to be the first modern history.

James Thurber

1894-1961. American short story writer and cartoonist, best known for his brilliant "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty".

Alvin Toffler

American futurist and author. His book Future Shock, was a must-read of the 1970's.

J.R.R. Tolkien

1892-1973. South-African born English author of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Leo Tolstoy

1828-1910. Russian author and philosopher. Among his many works are War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and The Death of Ivan Illich.

Lily Tomlin

1939-. American comedian and actor.

Arnold Toynbee

1889-1975. British historian.

Simon Travaglia

New Zealand author of the Bastard Operator From Hell series of articles.

G.M. Trevelyan

1876–1962. George Macaulay Trevelyan was a British historian and author.

Anthony Trollope

1815-1882. English novelist, perhaps best known for his novel Barchester Towers.

Leon Trotsky

1879-1940. Russian revolutionary and theorist. Became architect of the second Russian Revolution (October 1917, overthrowing the Kerensky government). Assassinated in Mexico by a Spanish agent of Joseph Stalin.

Gary Trudeau

1948-. American cartoonist and creator of the daily strip Doonesbury. Website.

Pierre Elliot Trudeau

1919-2000. Canadian prime minister (1968-1979 and 1980-1984).

Harry S. Truman

1884-1972. 33rd President of the United States (1945-1953), succeeding Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died in office. Biography.

Barbara Tuchman

1912-1989. American historian and author, best known for her books The Guns of August, and A Distant Mirror. Biography.

Mark Twain

1835-1910. American journalist, author, and humorist. Perhaps the best-known American author of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among his many works are Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Biography.

James B. Twitchell

1943-. American historian and social critic.

W. Cornelius Van Horne

1843-1915. American-born engineer and railway magnate. Knighted by Queen Victoria in 1894 for his efforts in organizing and building the Canadian Pacific Railway. Biography.

Gore Vidal

1925-. American author, known for his many books including Myra Breckinridge, The City and the Pillar, Julian, and Creation. Fan website.

Voltaire

1694-1778. The pen name of French author and philosopher François Marie Arouet. In addition to his philosophical writings, his widest audience was for his satires, the best known of which is Candide. Biography.

Larry Wall

American programmer and author. Renowned (or reviled, depending on your orientation) for his creation, the Perl language. Website.

Horace Walpole

1717-1797. English author, best known for writing the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto.

Barbara Walters

1931-. American broadcaster. Biography.

Artemus Ward

1834-1867. Pen name for Charles Farrar Browne, American satirical author. Biography.

Russell Wardlow

American weblogger () who describes himself as "A Berkeley student valiantly pissing into the wind."

Booker T. Washington

1856-1915. American educator and advocate for black education.

George Washington

1732-1799. First President of the United States (1789-1797). Biography.

Thomas J. Watson

1874-1956. American businessman, who is best remembered for his leadership of Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co., which was renamed International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) in 1924. Biography.

Bill Watterson

1958-. American cartoonist, known for the brilliant comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. Fan website.

A.P. Wavell

1883-1950. English Field Marshal, commanded Commonwealth forces in Egypt, against Rommel and was then appointed Viceroy of India (1943-1947). Created Viscount Wavell of Cyrenaica and of Winchester, 1943. Biography.

John Wayne

1907-1979. American actor. Originally named Marion Michael Morrison. Among his over 250 movies were Stagecoach, The Alamo, Sands of Iwo Jima, and True Grit. Biography.

Daniel Webster

1782-1852. American politician and presidential candidate. Biography.

Chaim Weizmann

1874-1952. Russian-born Zionist leader who became the first president of the state of Israel (1949-1952). Biography.

Orson Welles

1915-1985. American actor, film director, and radio broadcaster, who caused a panic in the 1930's through his dramatization of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds broadcast over American radio. As an actor, he is best known for his leading role in the movie Citizen Kane. Biography.

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

1769-1852. Irish-born English soldier and politician, who (in conjunction with the Prussian commander Field Marshal Blucher) defeated Napoleon I at Waterloo. He was created Duke of Wellington after his series of victories over the French in Spain from 1809-1814. He was twice prime minister of Britain (1828-1832 and again in 1834).Biography.

H.G. Wells

1866-1946. English science-fiction author, best known for the books War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, and the two-volume non-fiction Outline of History. Biography.

Rebecca West

1892-1983. English novelist and critic. Biography.

Edith Wharton

1862-1937. American author and architect. Biography.

E.B. White

1899-1985. American author of children's books. Biography.

T.H. White

1906-1964. Indian-born English author, best known for his retelling of the King Arthur tales in The Once and Future King. Fan website.

Alfred North Whitehead

1861-1947. English mathematician and philosopher. Biography.

Walt Whitman

1819-1892. American poet. Biography.

Bill Whittle

American weblogger.

Oscar Wilde

1854-1900. Irish poet, novelist, and playwright, best known for The Pictor of Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Earnest, and The Ballad of Reading Gaol. Biography.

George Will

1941-. American political commentator and columnist. Biography.

Tennessee Williams

1911-1983. American playwright, best known for A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie, and Night of the Iguana. Biography.

Walter Williams

American economist and author. Personal website and Recent columns.

Gahan Wilson

American cartoonist. Website.

Robert Anton Wilson

American author and activist. Co-author, with Robert Shea, of the Illuminatus! trilogy and several other books. Website.

Woodrow Wilson

1856-1924. 28th President of the United States (1913-1921). Biography.

Jon Winokur

American author of the "Curmudgeon" series of books. Website.

Tom Wolfe

1930-. American author of works including The Right Stuff, Bonfire of the Vanities, and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Biography.

Virginia Woolf

1882-1941. English author. Fan website.

Frank Lloyd Wright

1867-1949. American architect and designer. Website.

Malcolm X

1925-1965. American civil rights leader and prominent Black Muslim spokesman. Assassinated by members of the Nation of Islam in Manhattan.

William Butler Yeats

1865-1939. Irish poet, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, 1923. Biography.

William F. Zachmann

American technical consultant and journalist. Website.

Frank Zappa

1940-1943. American composer and rock musician. Biography.

Mao Zedong

1893-1976. Chinese communist leader and founder of the People's Republic of China. Biography.

Joe Zemke

American businessman, and former president of Amdahl Corporation.

Craig Zeni

American railfan photographer. Images website.

Phil Zimmermann

American software developer, best known for his groundbreaking work on Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), a widely distributed public key encryption tool. Website.

Alexander Zinoviev

1922-. Russian sociologist and satirist. Website.